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Building upon the esoteric and occult lore ofDungeons & Dragons, the college of spirit bard shares the stories and songs of past legends. These bards spin tales about heroes and figures whose spirits are then invoked to aid and inspire the bard and their companions.
The supernatural and occult are inherent to this subclass, allowing you to touch upon these subjects in many ways. They are much less musical than the typical bard, and whether you want to lean into the obvious trappings of the college or opt for something else, this subclass is one of the more unique the bard has to offer.
College Of Spirits Bard Features
The college of spirits bard gains three features at third level. The first of these is Guiding Spirits, which grants your bard the Guidance cantrip,something you will want to utilize as much as you may.You also gain Spiritual Focus which gives you more options for your arcane focus.
At level 6,Spiritual Focus will upgradeand allow you to add 1d6 to any healing or damaging spell if you are using one of the new focus options. The final feature of this level is Tales From Beyond,the most important feature of this subclass.
Tales From Beyond defines the college of spirit bard, giving it most of its flavor and unique abilities. Tales From Beyond is afun but somewhat inconsistent featurethat plays off your Bardic Inspiration die. Instead of using Bardic Inspiration, you may expend a use by rolling the same die on the Spirit Tales table.
This attachesa random effectto that die that you may later give to a different creature. There is a lot of variance between the different results on the table, andthe higher your Bardic Inspiration die is, the more effects are possible.The table below breaks down each of the 12 possible effects.
Tale of the Runaway
Tale of the Avenger
Tale of the Traveler
Tale of the Beguiler
Tale of the Phantom
Tale of the Brute
Tale of the Dragon
Tale of the Angel
Tale of the Mind-Bender
At sixth level, you gain Spirit Session, which allows you to conduct an hour-long ritual once per long rest, in which you temporarily learn anecromancy or divination spell of a level you’re able to cast, from any spell list.You only have this new spell until your next long rest.
Then at 14th level, you gain Mystical Connection, which allows you toroll twice on the Spirit Tales table and choose which result you want.
Best Ability Scores For A College Of Spirits Bard
When creating a college of spirits bard, you will want toprioritize Charisma, your spellcasting ability.Dexterity is important for armor class, but sincethis subclass is not focused on weapon attacks,it can be lowered to make for ahigher constitution.
Strength, Intelligence, and Wisdom can be safely ignored,butif you are prioritizing one, prioritize Wisdom.Consider a spread similar to the point-buy one below:
8 (-1)
13 (+1)
14 (+2)
10 (+0)
12 (+1)
15 (+2)
Best Species For A College Of Spirits Bard
There are many species that can make for excellent bards, andyou will need to attempt to make a bad choice.Still,there are some options which have better synergywhen paired with a college of spirits bard.
Changeling
Bards are a social class that make fantastic diplomats. Changelings only enhance this aspect of bards, allowing them toget access to more places and blend in wherever.Your Shapechanger feature allows you tolook like whoever you want, andyou gain a plethora of social skills.
Half-Elf
Half-elves also do a lot toenhance to bard’s social capabilities.You canselect extra skill proficienciesupon creation to really expand upon what makes a bard what it is.
Human (Variant)
Not only does the variant human provide an extra skill, it grants your character a feat at character creation. This feat can be very valuable, especially if put into something which enhances your spellcasting, such asMetamagic Adept.
Kenku
An odd and raven-like species,kenku work very well with the occult trappingsof the college of spirits. They also have mechanics that pair well with a bard, such as allowing you to gain more skill proficienciesthat you may also add advantage to.
Lizardfolk
Lizardfolk are another species whichwork well with the occult aspectof the subclass while alsohaving a mechanical edge.Natural Armor is a valuable feature here, giving your bard abase armor class of 13compared to the 11 of leather armor. The additional skills are nice, too.
Tiefling
Once more,tieflings are a species that fit well with the themeof the college. More than that, however, is that thespells given by each subspeciescan enhance the versatility of and add variety to your character.
Best Spells For A College Of Spirits Bard
As a bard, you are able to cast spells up to ninth level. Yet most of these spells are not oriented towards damage andare more utility-oriented. As such, you will want to make sure you have some spells for combat butdo not overinvest in them.You will not want to waste most of your spells known for lackluster damage. The following spells are some that work well with or make sense for a college of spirits bard.
